POOF!
by Star Dragon Pixie
Summary: “Albus... what... how do you think... Albus that’s impossible. Are you sure that she didn’t have an Invisibility Cloak? She could have snuck up into your office and... and... well, I don’t know. How could she have Apperated onto school grounds?
1. Of wet shirts and rubber legs

"**POOF!"**

_**At least an hour and a half past midnight.**_

It was, as Harry Potter lay in the fourth bed to the right in the Hospital Wing of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry ; half awake, trying to ignore the pain in his currently dissolved left leg, wondering how exactly he had let the same thing that had happened to his right arm in his second year happen to his left leg in his sixth, waiting for the goblet of Skele-Gro he had taken exactly thirty-three and a half minutes ago to fully kick in (And man let me tell you that stuff tastes like a combination of flobberworm guts and frog spawn marinated in armadillo bile. Just don't ask me how I know that. _I will never eat Berty-Botts every flavor beans again._), counting the tiny dots on the painfully white-washed wall ; that he saw her.

The girl was levitated into the Hospital Wing by Professor Dumbledore, closely followed by Professor McGonagall. Frowns creased both professors' foreheads and McGonagall seemed to be muttering incoherently to herself. This confused Harry for Professor McGonagall was not the type of person of whom you would expect to be talking to herself. Harry knew that his curiosity often got him into trouble, but he couldn't help laying wide awake and listening.

Professor McGonagall suddenly turned to Dumbledore and asked in a (if Harry didn't know any better) slightly scared and confused voice, "Albus... what... how do you think...Albus that's impossible. Are you sure that she didn't have an Invisibility Cloak? She could have snuck up into your office and... and... well, I don't know. How could she have Apperated on school grounds? That's impossible! How could —.".

Harry's eyes were wide open in the dark. After having to tell him several times, Hermione had finally got through his thick scull that it was impossible to Apperate at Hogwarts. How had this girl managed to do what was said to be undoable? As soon as Harry got out of the Hospital Wing, he was going to go strait to Hermione to tell her what he had overheard. Harry wasn't sure he believed his ears. He then wondered what Hermione would say when he told her, and smiled. She was hardly ever wrong about anything.

Dumbledore stopped professor McGonagall's rambling with a silent hand. "Minerva, you know as well as I that this young lady is not a student. If not by Apperation, how would she have entered the grounds in the first place? I can tell whenever someone enters the grounds, so she couldn't have possibly walked up to my office. She would have also had to sneak past several teachers. She doesn't seem to have a wand on her person and she is plainly dressed as a Muggle, so I presume that she either lost her wand, or that this girl is not aware of the fact that she is a witch. After Madam Pomfrey is done examining her, we will wake her up and hear what she has to say for herself.".

"But..." seeing the expression on Dumbledore's face McGonagall stopped. All three adults stood and stared at the girl. (Madam Pomfrey had come in a few moments after the other two and had gone to work strait away while listening intently.) Harry took this opportunity, while everyone else was facing the other direction, to take a closer look at the girl.

The girl had slightly longer than shoulder-length black hair with light brown highlights. She was wearing fitted clothes that were a bit worn and dirty. The knees of her jeans had holes in them and the cuffs were frayed at the edges. Her shirt had a couple of stains, one that looked mildly like blood and a small rip in the collar. A closer examination rendered that she was wet.

As if reading Harry's mind, Dumbledore said, "She's wet. I must not have noticed when I first discovered her." and quickly preformed a charm to dry her off. After several moments of awkward silence, Madam Pomfrey announced that the girl had some water in her lungs but that she had got it out. Besides the water, the girl had a slight case of shock, but that wouldn't last long. Madam Pomfrey said that she was a little underfed, but otherwise almost perfectly healthy.

"Thank you Poppy. Would you mind doing me a favor? Collect all the staff and assemble them in my office? Tell them that I will be there shortly?" Dumbledore asked Madam Pomfrey.

"Certainly Headmaster. Right away." said Madam Pomfrey before turning in one fluid motion and exiting the Hospital Wing.

"And now," said Dumbledore, pulling out his wand once more, "we wake her up. _Ennervate_.".

With a flurry of movement, the girl sat up in her bed, wide awake, fumbling in her pockets. Both Dumbledore and McGonagall held their wands aloft while Harry inconspicuously grabbed his wand off of the stand by his bed. The girl stared at the two professors with evident shock on her face. She looked around at the Hospital Wing and started breathing faster and faster until she was hyperventilating. Tears streamed down her face, she looked at the adult's wand and started crying harder. Dumbledore put his wand away and asked the girl some questions in an overly soft voice. McGonagall waved her wand behind her back and the next moment produced a paper bag for the girl to breath into.

"Hello. I'm Professor Dumbledore, Headmaster of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. May I ask your name? This is Professor McGonagall, she teaches Transfiguration, and that over there, pretending to be asleep is Harry Potter." at this, all three heads whipped around to stare at Harry. He sat up in his bed, grimacing. Harry noticed that the girl had pretty hazel eyes. She reminded him of someone, but he couldn't think who.

McGonagall was glaring at him so forcefully when he glanced at her, that he actually jumped a little. He quickly turned to Dumbledore, who's seemed to be trying to look angry and keep from laughing at the same time. The latter won, and he broke out into a huge grin. Harry smiled at this.

"Sorry. Couldn't help it." mumbled Harry looking at the third button on his pajamas. He looked up only to receive the full blast of the girl's stare.

"Harry Potter?" she whispered. For the first time in a long time, it was not Harry's lightning shaped scar that the girl was staring at, it was his eyes. She seemed to be searching them for something. She found what she was looking for, and said, "Yes, you're Harry Potter all right." she stared for a little while longer before seemingly becoming aware that staring was rude and looked down at her bed sheets. "Sorry..."

"It's OK. It happens all the time.". Harry couldn't conceal a small grin. It was very refreshing not to have his scar marveled at.

Dumbledore repeated as if nothing had happened, "May I be so rude as to ask your name?"

The girl said, "Oh! Oh yeah... It's Philomena, Philomena Peters. Phil for short. I hate my name.".

"Ah..."said Dumbledore, "'Lover of the moon'. Would you kindly tell me how you got to be here and how it is that you have come to be without your wand?"

Phil glanced at Harry and back to Dumbledore with pleading in her eyes. Dumbledore promptly whispered something to McGonagall and told Harry, "If you don't mind Harry, I think Philomena here would like to have some privacy. Professor McGonagall will be placing a Imperturable Charm on your bed curtain. She will take it off when we are finished talking."

Harry had to try very hard not to pout. He had wanted to know how the Phil girl had managed to Apperate into Hogwarts. Phil looked relieved. Mcgonagall pulled the curtains around his bed and waved her wand at them. It was as if someone had just plugged his ears. Besides the sound of him breathing, Harry was engulfed in total silence.

It had been at least thirty minutes when at last Professor McGonagall removed the curtain from around his bed. Harry looked around eagerly. Philomena was sitting in her bed hastily wiping tears from her eyes. Harry broke the uncomfortable silence by asking, "So... how did you know for sure that I was Harry Potter? I mean usually people look at my scar... you didn't."

Phil looked up from her sheets. "Well... you see... um... well... my family isn't the richest or most connected family in the wizarding world. By far. My dad's not even a wizard." she had a strange look in her eyes as she mentioned her father. "We don't get _The_ _Daily Profit_. We live in a Muggle neighborhood. We got _The_ _Profit_ when I was little but well..." at this point she lowered her voice and the strange look came back in her eyes. If Harry had to describe it, he would call it hate. "My father hated when owls came to our house. He hates everything about our world. Mum didn't tell him that she and I were witches until I accidentally made his shoe-laces trip him one day. After that he slowly started to— ".

Phil seemed to notice that she was telling him her whole life story and looked horrified at the fact. She said rather quickly, "Anyway, back to the point. My mother told me all about the Dark Lord–". Harry cut her off coldly, saying, "Don't call him that. That's what his Death Eaters call him.". Phil looked at Harry sadly, but continued.

"My mum told me all about Voldemort and the horrid things he's done." she paused. Harry was mildly surprised, the only person his age that he had ever heard say Voldemort's name was Hermione. He smiled grimly. "In your first year there was that whole thing with the Sorcerer's Stone, the Chamber of Secrets in your second year. We stopped getting the _Profit_ in your third year. And then there's the fact that you have no parents. I just figured that you had to have seen some real horrors in your life. Those kind of horrors leave scars, scars that hardly anyone but you knows how deep they really go. Not scars on your skin, the scars inside. Those scars show in your eyes. Most people can't even imagine the things you've been through.". Phil looked slightly embarrassed by the fact that she had just made a speech.

Harry looked into her eyes. She had that same sad look that Sirius got from Azkaban and Lupin got from being a werewolf. Harry cringed, thinking of Sirius made his heart ache. Is that what she meant? Did he have that same look too? "And you can imagine? It shows in your eyes too." Harry said.

Phil seemed to be considering telling him something, but all she said was, "Not as much as you.". After several minutes she said, "Professor Dumbledore is writing to my mum. I'm going to stay at Hogwarts. He said that he'd get the sorting hat and sort me at dinner." she looked confused at that part. "Dumbledore said something about you showing me around tomorrow. I think he'll tell you himself though. Oh look, there's the note now.". As she said this, a small piece of paper appeared on his bed stand.

Harry picked it up and read it. It said:

_**Harry,**_

_**If you don't mind, I would have you take Philomena to each of your classes today and show her around the school a bit. All of your teachers already know that you are bringing her. Ms. Peters is going to stay at Hogwarts for the remainder of the year and will be sorted at tonight's feast. I know that you would like to stay awake tomorrow so I suggest that you go to sleep soon. I will be sending along Ms. Peters' wand as soon as possible.**_

—**_Dumbledore_**

Harry looked up at Phil and said, "Yeah, he wants me to take you to each of my classes. He said that he will be sending you your wand soon. He wants us to go to bed A.S.A.P..".

Philomena laughed. "OK. Say, why are _you_ in here?"

"I made a bad landing in Quidditch tryouts and broke my leg. My friend Neville tried to heal it and, well... The same thing happened to my right arm in my second year. It's like rubber now. There are no bones left.". Both Harry and Phil winced.

Harry picked up his leg and it flopped around a bit. Phil let out a hiss of sympathy. Harry glared at his leg, thinking about how nice it would be to make Neville's leg wobble like that, when he realized that Phil had asked him something. "What? Sorry, wasn't really listening.".

"I said: So you play Quidditch?".

Harry answered, "Yeah. I've been playing Seeker ever since my first year. My mate Ron's Keeper. I'm the Captain this year."

"That's so cool." replied Phil. "I've read all about Quidditch. I love to read. My mum got me a Clean Sweep for my birthday two years ago, but I hardly ever got I chance to ride it. My dad, you see. She had told me that she had wanted to get the best, but, well, it cost too much and all. But I was just happy to have a broom at all. I've only ever seen one small game played, and that was by some kids in my grand's neighborhood. She lives in a wizarding community. We only visit her once a year.".

Phil looked kind of sad, but cheered up rather quickly when Harry replied, "I know what you mean about your dad. I have to live with my Muggle aunt and uncle. They would scream if I even made a noise that sounded remotely like anything to do with magic. If you want you can come to our next game. It's tomorrow. You can hang out with Hermione in the stands. Hermione's my other friend. She'll be there too. You'll probably like her and Ron. Ron loves Quidditch more than me and Hermione loves to read. She's the reason Ron and I haven't failed yet.".

She said, "Thanks! I think that I will go. I'd love to meet Ron and Hermione. They sound great. I really don't have many friends because all the kids in my neighborhood thought that I was a freak. I once made this boy's dog bite his own master's butt on accident. They didn't really bother me after that. One of the best days of my life." Both Harry and Philomena laughed so hard that they were on the verge of tears.

"I can understand that too. My aunt and uncle tell everyone that I go to St. Brutus's School for Incurably Criminal boys. I once made my uncle's sister blow-up like a balloon for calling my mother a bitch. I lost my temper." Harry explained. "I got in trouble for that one." he scowled at his sheets remembering.

Phil looked like she didn't know wether to smile or not, and decided to look sympathetic instead. Harry said, "It was _so_ worth it. You should have seen the looks on their faces.". Phil smiled and laughed.

When they had stopped laughing Phil said, "We should probably get some sleep now. I wouldn't want to fall asleep tomorrow.".

Although still not able to think of who Phil reminded him of, Harry agreed with her and they both said goodnight. Each of them feeling better that they had upon entering the Hospital Wing.


	2. Would have to ask her about that

**Enjoy you evil people. (Just kidding. Kind of.) None of you reviewed. (If anyone even read it.)(So so very sad about that.)**

"**POOF!"**

When Harry woke up the next morning, he had the sudden urge to roll over and just go back to sleep. Unfortunately, Harry knew that he had classes that day that he could not miss. Harry groaned in a depressed manner, slipped on his glasses and sat up. He looked around and saw that Philomena was already awake and was looking at him expectantly. Harry glanced at his watch and did a double-take. Harry only had fifteen minutes before he had to take Phil to his classes with him. Harry cursed; Neville for making his leg rubber so that he had to take Skele- Gro, so that he had had a very difficult time sleeping, which in turn had led to him sleeping in late; under his breath. Phil looked mildly impressed, but ruined it by braking into a huge grin and chuckling softly.

Harry returned her smile and jumped out of bed. He hastily grabbed his Quidditch robes and threw them on over his pajamas (green with gold Snitches on them, incidentally made for him by Mrs. Weasley as a Christmas gift).

Harry turned to the girl in the bed opposite him, "Come on, Phil. We only have fifteen minutes before classes start. ... Why didn't you wake me up sooner? ... Ah hell! I've got a test in Transfiguration today, and that's my first class! Quick, hurry up. I have to run down to the common room really quick to change into my school robes.".

Phil got out of bed and ran to the doors with Harry. As they ran through corridors, up and down stairs, so on and so forth, Phil told him that, upon waking, she had discovered her wand on her bed stand. They finally reached the Griffindor common room and Harry gasped the password to the fat lady, who didn't notice them right away due to the fact that she was having a heated conversation with her witch friend Violet about a certain poltergeist and his recent antics (something along the lines of bewitched toilets that shouted insults at the occupant's bum). Harry repeated the password (pestering poltergeists) and stepped through the portrait hole, pulling Phil along behind him. Harry practically tossed Philomena into an armchair before running upstairs to change.

In exactly two minutes and thirty-three seconds, Harry came bursting out of the boy's dormitories and launched himself down the stairs, taking them three at a time. Harry preformed a quick _scourgify_ charm on Phil's clothes, mumbling something about 'it doesn't matter ... it'll be O.K. ... they won't care about you not having robes ...'. As soon as he was done, he pulled her out of the common room as fast as he had in and they ran all the way to Transfigurations.

"Harry,... do you think that... well... are you sure that they wont punish me for my clothes?" asked Phil.

"Phil," Harry said, turning to face his new friend, "It'll be fine. I'm already late and we're having a test today, so I need to hurry up. Come on.".

With that, Harry pushed open the door to his first class and walked up to the front, still holding Phil's left hand in his right and ignoring the stares that he was receiving from his friends and enemies alike. Professor McGonagall was sitting on her desk in her cat form and was waiting expectantly for them to reach the front. Philomena was evidently looking around in search of the teacher when she spotted 'the cat'.

"Harry," Phil whispered, "Where's the teacher? Awww," sighed the girl next to Harry Potter, "What a pretty little cat.".

Harry was about to explain to Phil that that was _not_ a cat when Professor McGonagall (obviously having heard Phil's comment on how pretty she thought the "little 'cat'" was) transformed back into her original state. This earned Harry a blast in the eardrums when Phil let off a loud (and rather high-pitched, may I add) squeak. A few giggles issued from the class behind them, causing Phil to blush slightly.

"Good morning Potter. Peters. So nice of you to join us in class on this lovely day. May I ask what delayed you?" Professor McGonagall said in an artificially cheery voice.

Harry said, "Sorry Professor. We were in the Hospital Wing as you know and I didn't wake up on time due to the Skele-Gro.".

"Did the Skele-Gro physically stop you?" asked the professor.

Phil looked utterly confused and said this. "You know what happened. I noticed that Harry wasn't sleeping well. That... what do you call it... Skele-Gro, it kept him up.".

Harry looked slightly embarrassed and decided to stare at his feet. It was only then that he realized that he was still holding Phil's hand. Harry dropped it hastily, a pinkish blush rising to his cheeks. He placed his hands in his pockets. Phil glanced down at where their hands were, until a few moments prior, entwined, and then up at his face, a similar blush appearing on her cheeks. They both turned back to Professor McGonagall at the same time.

McGonagall grinned. "Just go sit down. Ms. Peters," she turned to Phil, "Why don't you take a seat next to Ms. Granger. And Mr. Potter can take the seat next to Mr. Longbottom.".

Harry and Phil took the designated seats and Harry took out his book and wand. Glancing over at Harry, Phil took out her own wand seeing as she did not have any books yet. Phil turned to the bushy-haired girl on her left.

"Uh... Hi. I'm Philomena Peters. Phil for short.". Phil stuck her hand out towards the girl for her to shake.

"I'm Hermione Granger. One of Harry's friends." said Hermione after excepting Phil's offered hand.

"Oh! So you're Hermione. Harry told me all about you and a boy named Ron. Well not really. He told me that you liked to read and that you helped him and Ron not to fail in anything.". Phil smiled and looked around as if searching for a boy with the name Ron written on his forehead.

Hermione was trying not to laugh. She sincerely was. Unfortunately, her cool exterior failed her, and Hermione cracked up, earning her one of Professor McGonagall's infamous glares. Hermione shut up at once, but continued smiling as soon as the professor turned away.

"Ron's over there. The redhead. He's kind of hard to miss once you know what he looks like." said the girl with bushy brown hair, still smiling.

"Oh. Right." said the girl with strait black hair with light brown highlights. "I knew that." she said with a large grin.

The two girls now suffering from fits of silent laughter were slammed back to reality when Professor McGonagall asked everyone to please quiet down.

"Today I will quiz you individually as I walk around the room. I am going to start on my right and work my way left. I will be asking you to change the color of your _own_ hair. _No one_,I repeat, _no one_ is to change the color of anyone else's hair." she glared at the trouble makers in the room and they had the decency to become very interested in their shoes.

Harry managed to make his hair brown for a few seconds before it regained it's original color. Ron only gave himself pink highlights, which didn't exactly go very well with his flaming red hair. Hermione on the other hand, changed her hair blonde and kept it like that for the rest of the class. She was the only one to do so, and was scowled at by many others, including the boy, Ron. After everyone had been tested, Professor McGonagall walked silently over to Philomena.

"Ms. Peters, you don't have to, but would you like to try changing your hair color?" she asked, her tone unusually soft.

Phil glanced over at Hermione who smiled at her encouragingly, and nodded to the professor. McGonagall smiled at her, causing Hermione to frown, and Phil to smile back. She had learned the incantation at her home school, but hadn't really had time to practice it. She concentrated, pointed her wand at her head, and muttered the phrase. She hadn't been focusing on a certain color, but her brown highlights disappeared and her now full head of black locks turned red. On her left, Phil heard Hermione gasp. This broke her concentration and her hair regained it's normal color. Phil turned her confused face at Hermione who was rudely staring at her. Hermione realized that many people were looking at her and she stopped staring at Phil.

"Oh. Sorry. It's just... Oh never mind. It was nothing. Sorry." Hermione said.

_Hmm. That was weird. _Philomena wondered, _I wonder what was up with that? I'll have to ask her later._

The rest of the class went smoothly, except for the fervent glances Hermione kept shooting at Phil. Philomena would really have to ask her about that.

**A/N: To my loyal readers,** **all I have to say to you is, REVIEW! If you do not REVIEW, I will make sure to wait a very long time to update. That is all I have to say to you. This is the same thing I put at the end of the last chapter. So... GO! REVIEW! NOW! PLEASE! (Pretty pretty _pretty_ please?)**


	3. How'd you know that?

"**POOF!"**

After Transfiguration, was Harry and Ron's 'free time', in which Phil officially met Ron. In the time after Philomena had changed her hair red, Professor McGonagall had instructed everyone except Hermione to work on the color changing spell (since Hermione had been the only one to preform it in it's fullest). Many people had been jealous at this, but Phil admired the way that Hermione had ignored their dark glances. Despite her admiration, Phil noticed that every once and a while, Hermione would glance at her, and then hurriedly back at her book.

Unfortunately, Hermione had Arithmancy instead of free time, so Phil did not get the chance to ask Hermione about the way she had been acting. It _was _quite odd. Hermione had been glancing at her as if she was doing a puzzle. The way one's eyes flick between the puzzle and the box. It was as if she had been given puzzle to complete, without the box. It was very odd indeed.

As they exited the class room, the other students looked at her as they walked by. Phil smirked coldly,_ If only they knew... then they'd _really_ stare._ After waving a quick "See you later", Hermione ran off to Arithmancy, which left Phil with two boys for a while. Then again, Harry wasn't _that_ bad. Harry introduced her to Ron, who she discovered to be slightly shy. He hadn't said anything the whole time they were being introduced, but half way to the Griffindor common room, Ron had asked her who she favored in Quidditch. Phil had replied that she hadn't ever seen them play, but she guessed she liked the Holyhead Harpies, since they were an all female team.

Ron just shrugged, but Harry knew that that would be Ron's first grudge against Phil. It was sad, but Harry wasn't worried that it would stop them from being friends. Look at the way Ron acted towards Hermione. Harry wasn't stupid, he wouldn't be surprised if the two were having a very passionate and secret affair behind everyone's backs, while pretending to fight all the time in public. _Hmm..._, Harry thought, _not unlike my parents_. Harry snorted at this thought, which caused both Ron and Phil to raise their eyebrows at him. Luckily, Harry managed to wave it off by explaining that he had just been thinking about a prank that could pull on Malfoy later. Harry was saved from having to tell Ron his 'brilliant idea', by Phil asking who Malfoy was.

"He's the rudest, ugliest, most pratish, vilest, most evil, scum-face, pampered rich boy, Slytherin in the entire school." replied Ron without hesitation.

"Or in Hermione's words, a foul, loathsome, evil, little cockroach." Harry added with a smile.

"Um... nice description. Very... creative." said Phil, nodding her head.

Harry laughed at the way Philomena kept a straight face, which set Phil off laughing, which in turn set off Ron. By the time they reached the common room, they had stopped laughing, but the ice had been broken, and for the first time in Phil's life, Phil actually had friends.

As they entered the common room, a snowy owl flew over their heads. It landed on a couch near by and stuck out her beak for Harry to take the note. He read it quickly.

"It's from Hagrid. He's invited us for tea and mentioned meeting the new arrival." Harry commented.

"Uh... Who's Hagrid?" Phil asked.

"He's the Keeper of Keys and Grounds at Hogwarts." Ron replied in a mock formal voice.

"He's also the Care of Magical Creatures teacher. We don't have his class anymore though." Harry added.

"Well," said Phil, "Let's go meet him."

As they trio approached the small hut, Philomena asked, "What's his dog's name?"

Ron and Harry looked at her oddly.

"How do you know he has a dog?" asked Harry.

"Uh... he was... uh... I heard him barking." Phil stated as they reached the door step and Fang started barking loudly.

"Down Fang!" came a voice from inside.

Scrapping noises could be hear through the door as Hagrid pushed Fang back and opened the door.

"Harry, Ron! Come in!" he faced Phil, "And you must be the little apperator." Hagrid smiled and Ron looked confused.


	4. Author's Note!

**A/N: THIS CHAPTER IS NOT PART OF THE STORY! MY APOLOGIZES!** Okay. I'm very sorry for not updating in forever, but I thought that I should explain. (At least in part.) Chapter 4 of _POOF! _contains a lot of Hagrid. I discovered, about three seconds into Ch. 4 that I am horrible at writting Hagrid. This does not explain fully, however, why I have not updated in so long. I was so frustrated with Hagrid that I abandoned this fic for a while, and then I forgot about it, and then I remembered it, but then I could not find my muse, so I forgot it again. In conclusion, I am very sorry, and will hopefully update in the near(-ish) future.

P.S. My thanks go out to 'A. Slaughter' for informing me of a mistake I made. Thank you.


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